


An Aristocrat's Rose Garden

by felixlouisclaudemontdor



Category: ARGONAVIS from BanG Dream! AAside (Video Game)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Fantôme Iris - Freeform, Fluff, M/M, Mutual Pining, gay little bandmen, just some frenchman yearning, slowburn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:02:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25154398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/felixlouisclaudemontdor/pseuds/felixlouisclaudemontdor
Summary: Surely your average corporate slave couldn't possibly win the attention of a man from an aristocratic family, but when Tomoru Kurokawa and Felix Louis-Claude Mont D'or become part of a band together, quite the opposite happens.
Relationships: Felix Louis-Claude Mont d'Or/Tomoru Kurokawa
Comments: 13
Kudos: 59





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This first chapter follows Tomoru for the most part, but this story will alternate between following Tomoru and following Felix. I'm just.... a funky little Felix kinnie who wants to give Tomoru a kiss on the cheek <3

With one last strum of his guitar’s strings, the show was complete. The audience erupted into cheers, cries, and happy screams. Everyone on stage was visibly huffing from the amount of exertion put into their songs. Felix leaned into the mic one last time, his blonde hair cascading down his face as he did, “ _Merci beaucoup, tout le monde!_ ”

The crowd roared once again, each member of Fantôme Iris grinned and waved as they made their way backstage. Once they stepped foot out of sight, they all relaxed themselves, melting from their onstage personas to their normal selves once more.

“Ah, I’m so bummed out!” Koharu exclaimed, taking a seat and spreading his legs apart as wide as comfortably possible.

“K-Koharu… Your underwear…” Jun stammered, ruffling up his hair and taking a seat across from Koharu.

Tomoru took a seat on a chair by Koharu, stretching his back out and placing his guitar gently next to his seat. Daimon did not speak a word, he simply leaned his back against the wall and crossed his arms. He seemed menacing, upset or angry even, but Tomoru knew that Daimon was processing the show they had just performed and absorbing his joy in his own way. Tomoru looked and saw Felix stepping in a few seconds later than the rest of them, his black coat swaying behind him as he strided into the room.

“That was absolutely wonderful everybody! I’m so proud of each and every one of you!” Felix exclaimed, his arms flying up in amusement and a big smile coming across his face.

Koharu took a swig from a nearby water bottle, exhaled, and looked up at Felix, “Hell yeah, we did amazing!”

“That was my water bottle, Koharu…” Jun said.

Daimon spoke up, “I don’t think that matters too much right now, Jun.”

“Agreed,” Tomoru added, slipping on his glasses.

Felix stood at the head of the room, he seemed absorbed in thought. Not much was to be said when everyone in the room was just about ready to collapse into a deep sleep from putting their all into a concert. Not to mention, it was a humid June day, and their costumes were boiling them all half to death despite the air conditioning in the live house being cranked up.

Tomoru, his vision now much clearer than before, passed a quick glance at Felix. Onstage, Felix was the King of the Vampires, but even offstage Felix carried an immense amount of elegance and poise with every step he took. Such is the way of being from an aristocratic family, Tomoru figured. He fit his role of being a King perfectly, even if he wasn’t really a King in actuality. Regardless of Felix’s status, Tomoru always viewed him as regal in his own right. He could be a neet like Jun but he would still look up to Felix in a way. Perhaps his onstage role as Felix’s underling, Light, was appropriate because of this.

“Earth to Tomoru! Are you alive in there?”

Tomoru snapped back into reality, feeling Jun shake him by the shoulder. “Huh? Oh, what’s up?”

“Ah, dear Tomoru… It appears he was lost in thought. He is quite the imaginative man, after all.” Felix said.

“We just finished a live show and you’re already brainstorming ideas for the next one Tomoru? I wish I could have that much initiative…” Jun muttered.

“Ah, yes! I apologize, lost in thought!” Tomoru let out a nervous chuckle.

“You should write down your ideas later when we get back to the sharehouse, Tomoru! You have a lot of good ones!” Koharu responded.

“I must agree with Koharu, your ideas are absolutely exquisite, Tomoru!” Felix added.

“Thank you, Feli-san…”

Daimon spoke up all of a sudden, “Speaking of the sharehouse, should we begin to leave soon?” 

“Ah, yes, Daimon! One more minute and we’ll be out the door.” Felix replied.

Tomoru felt a bit embarrassed having been caught having his head in the clouds, but he was more than happy to come up with ideas for their shows. However, he was not about to reveal that it was solely Felix whom he was thinking of at that moment because that would be even more embarrassing than having his train of thought suddenly cut off.

\---

Despite feeling worn down from their show, Tomoru still spent the night working like mad. He was a massive workaholic, and was quite honestly used to working himself to the point of complete exhaustion. It didn’t matter to him he just kept chugging energy drink after energy drink and continued to type away at his PC. 

He sat back in his chair for a second, looking at the report he had just written for his company. Thousands of words, all in one sitting too. His desk was littered with empty energy drink cans and scrap pieces of paper. In all the rubble, Tomoru unearthed a notebook. It was plain and grey, but it had various scribbles of his name and some demonic fantasy imagery on the front of it. He opened it up and flipped through pages of more scribbles depicting vampires, demons, angels, and other miscellaneous creatures of the night going through epic battles and trials. This was where he wrote down his ideas for future live shows. Nobody knew about this journal but him, everyone just assumed he had a very active brain whenever he suggested ideas. Tomoru figured his determined and dreamy mindset helped give everybody else that impression.

On a new page, he began to jot down lines filled with ideas for what they could do on stage while performing. He wrote about Felix’s underlings, chains in darkness, roses under the moonlight, those sorts of topics. It was all fairly self indulgent and each idea was barely fleshed out, he just put them down on the page to flesh out when he had a clearer mind. He then quickly doodled Felix’s character, who just so happened to also be named Felix as well. He drew his vampiric persona posing in an ever so dignified way, making sure to include every detail he could muster from memory. Of course, he could never truly capture Felix’s beauty, that was something that was meant to be enjoyed in person, but he could certainly draw out what his brain imagined.

Suddenly Tomoru heard a rustling from outside his office. He didn’t pay it much mind at first, as he was a bit phased out, but he heard the rustling once more. “I hear you walking around out there, if you’re a ghost you might want to head out while you still can before Daimon starts to yell. It’s not pretty.” Tomoru absentmindedly called out, still face down in his work.

“Fufu… Dearest mortal, you think you can banish me from this home with a simple threat such as that?”

Tomoru swiveled around in his chair to lock eyes with Felix, who was leaning on his office door frame. He wore a plain white nightgown with a pair of soft slippers on his feet. “Feli-san, what are you doing up at this hour? Shouldn’t you be getting your beauty sleep?” 

“I’m afraid I just couldn’t bring myself to sleep, mon ami. I thought I might as well use this time wisely instead of moping around miserably in bed. Moping is a very un-pretty thing to do.” Felix replied, entering Tomoru’s office.

As soon as it hit Tomoru that Felix was entering his office, he quickly scrambled to tuck his journal away amongst the mess that littered his desk, knocking over several cans of energy drinks in the process and scattering them across the floor. He looked down at the empty cans as they clinked against the hardwood floor, feeling a bit embarrassed as it occurred. “Ah, I apologize, I-”

“My, what a mess your office is, Tomoru… However, I’m not one to judge if this is the space you like to work in.” Felix assured him.

Tomoru quickly picked up the cans and stacked them onto his desk again, “I swear I’ll clean this place one day, I’ve just been so busy and-”

Felix’s hand wrapped itself around Tomoru’s shoulder. Almost as if he was being controlled to, Tomoru stopped frantically picking up the cans. Felix’s soft voice assured him once again, “Relax. There’s no need to panic over such a thing, Tomoru. You’re a very hardworking man and I admire you for that. You’re acting as if I am your boss walking in on this catastrophe.”

“Apologies, my Lord. I can’t help but get jittery over little things sometimes.”

He heard Felix let out a snicker, which led to a bit of a full laugh. Felix’s hand was no longer on his shoulder.

“What’s so funny?” 

Felix spoke through small snickers, “You referred to me as ‘my Lord’, are you perhaps so tired that Light is slipping out all of a sudden?”

“Ah, oh my god, I am SO tired!” Tomoru stated.

After Felix was finished giggling, he exhaled and collected himself again. Without any prompting whatsoever, he massaged Tomoru’s shoulders gently. Tomoru simply sat there and accepted it, not really knowing how to react or respond to such a gesture. After several seconds of this, Tomoru broke the silence, “What are you doing?”

“A massage. You seem a bit stressed.”  
“I mean, I think I can manage, this was very sudden of you to do I-”

Felix stopped, still keeping his hands on Tomoru’s shoulders, “Is it not normal for people to let a trusted friend relieve their stress in Japan?”

“No of course it is but I was just… a bit thrown off, is all.”

“I think maybe you should rest your little eyes, Tomoru. Drift off into a good night’s sleep on this fine night.”

Tomoru smiled, “Says the one who’s not currently getting his beauty sleep.”

Felix let go of Tomoru’s shoulders. Tomoru almost wished he could feel Felix massage his shoulders for just a few more seconds, but it didn’t cross his mind to ask. He was feeling a bit drowsy, after drinking so many energy drinks he felt as if the energy was sucked out of him like a vacuum. Perhaps Felix was right about getting some rest.

“I’m going to go make myself a late night meal. You be sure to get some sleep, alright?” Felix said.

“Alright…” Tomoru mumbled back.

He took a few steps out towards the door and then swerved back around to face Tomoru once more, “I mean it, as your King you must respect my commands!”

Tomoru grinned in amusement, “Yes, my Lord.”

After Felix made his way out, Tomoru got back to his work once more. As he wrote and typed away at his keyboard, his eyes fell heavy and he soon drifted off into a peaceful sleep at his desk.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mom says it's Felix's turn on the yearning.

The loud beeping of the fire alarm at 2:30 in the morning was enough to wake almost everybody in the Fantôme Iris sharehouse up.

“How did you manage to burn ramen noodles?!” Koharu exclaimed.

“ _Je ne sais pas!_ ” Felix replied.

Daimon was doing his best to put out the small flames flickering from the oven, Jun ws covering his face and opening every window in the house to let out the smoke. Koharu was standing on a chair to turn the fire alarm off so the buzzing would no longer ring through everybody’s ears. In Felix’s hand was a pot filled with very charred instant noodles. He felt bad wasting food, but he disposed of them anyways.

“Why were you even up so late, Felix? Aren’t you usually getting your beauty sleep or whatever?” Jun asked.

“I couldn’t sleep and I wanted to make a meal for myself, that’s all!”

“Next time leave staying up late to our local nightguard here,” Koharu said, nodding his head towards Daimon, “you’re lucky he wasn’t on shift because he’s the one helping to put out that fire the most!”

Felix sighed and put his now dirty pot into the sink so he could wash it later. After Daimon finished putting out the fire, he attempted to fan the smoke out the open windows so that the room wasn’t so smokey.

Koharu stepped off of his chair and put it back into place, “I’m heading back to bed, goodnight everyone!”

“ _Bonne nuit, Koharu!_ ” Felix said back.

“Hey, where’s Tomoru?” Jun inquired suddenly.

“Good question…” Daimon added.

“Last I saw him, he was in his office working away. He seemed quite tired.” Felix recalled.  
“Did he really sleep through the fire alarm?” Jun remarked.

“That would not be good if this fire got any bigger than it did.” Daimon responded.

“You two continue to air out the kitchen and then go to bed, I will go check up on Tomoru.” Felix stated, waving his hand at the two of them.

“A-Alright!” Jun replied.

Felix made his way to Tomoru’s office once more, going in only to find Tomoru fast asleep at his desk. His computer’s monitor was still on, Felix figured he simply passed out on the spot mid-work. Although he didn’t want to poke Tomoru awake, as Tomoru was very grouchy when he woke up, his curiosity got the best of him. Felix scrolled through the report Tomoru had been typing, admiring the amount of words he had typed out in so little time. For someone who claimed to be quite average, Felix greatly admired Tomoru for his work ethic and the fact that no matter how many times he completely wore himself out, he still continued to keep working away in hopes of achieving his dreams.

“You deserve this rest, Tomoru. You’ve done quite well.” Felix whispered to himself.

Felix poked his head outside of Tomoru’s office. The windows were all closed again, Jun and Daimon were nowhere to be seen. He assumed the two of them had scampered off to bed like he told them to. Stepping foot into Tomoru’s office again, he poked at Tomoru. Once. Twice. No response. Even when he poked roughly, Tomoru was very much still asleep. Felix quickly put Tomoru’s PC to sleep and then lifted the man out of his chair. Although it was awkward, Felix eventually got the sleeping man to lay in his arms bridal style. Felix never seemed physically strong, but years of casual sports playing built up.

Making sure not to rattle everybody else out of bed once again, Felix tiptoed his way to Tomoru’s bedroom, placing him gently down on his sheets. He took a nearby blanket and spread it across Tomoru’s unconscious body to make sure he didn’t get too cold while he slept.

“ _Bonne nuit, mon ami._ ” Felix whispered before making his way to his own bedroom.

After tucking Tomoru into bed, Felix laid in his own bed. He yawned and stared up at his ceiling, thinking about the past day. He wondered if Tomoru thought of him as odd. He had thought he’d adjusted to life in Japan quite well, but there were times where he had to make sure others were comfortable with his foreign demeanor. He hoped Tomoru wasn’t too offended or thrown off by his gentle massage earlier that night, he simply didn’t know how to tell Tomoru to unwind without coming off as overbearing in any way. Such was the way of being an aristocrat who was used to others following his lead, Felix assumed.

“ _It’s best not to dwell on it too hard._ ” Felix thought to himself.

The blonde haired man tossed and turned in his bed a bit before eventually curling up and feeling his eyes drift into a gentle slumber.

The next morning, Felix woke up fairly early despite the fact that he stayed up late. He sat up, stretched, and made his way out of bed, slipping on his slippers and immediately rummaging through his drawers to get some clothes for the day. He grabbed a white button up shirt and some skinny black pants as well as a short crimson scarf to put around his neck.

While adjusting the scarf on his neck in his vanity mirror, he checked his face to make sure he had no dark circles under his eyes from staying up late the previous night, to which he found nothing. Knowing his skin was still clear as day, he put on a smile and tied the end of his hair up with a red ribbon to match his scarf. In little time, he was ready to face the day.

Upon walking out to the sharehouse’s kitchen, Felix was greeted by Koharu, “G’morning Felix!”

Felix checked the time on his phone, 7:29 AM. “Koharu, you’re up awfully early!” He said.

“I usually am, Felix, I have young kids to teach.”

“As do I, but it’s a Sunday.”

Koharu stopped what he was doing. “It is? Goddamn I am losing track of time so badly. What are you doing up so early as well?”

Felix responded, “I’m not quite sure, I just happened to wake up at this time.”

“Well, at least somebody’s up to monitor you if you decide to make breakfast!” Koharu grinned, pointing to himself with his thumb.

The blonde man chuckled a bit and took a seat. Felix and Koharu often bonded over the fact that they were both teachers. However, Koharu was a nursery school teacher and had to deal with bratty children regularly, Felix was a linguistics teacher and only had to deal with students falling asleep in his class every now and again.

About half an hour later, Tomoru came stumbling out of his room, sluggish and massaging his temples with one hand. He had his suit for work on and he came out in his zombie-like state to take a can of energy drink he had stashed in the fridge.

“Good morning, Tomoru!” Felix exclaimed.

“Shut up.”

Felix simply smiled. He was used to Tomoru’s kind self being completely flipped onto its head come the early morning. The members of Fantôme Iris often joked that Tomoru turned into Light, his stage persona, in the morning, due to the fact that he becomes much more serious and blunt. 

Tomoru cracked open the can of energy drink in his hand and took a big sip of it before turning to face Felix, “Felix, did you tuck me in last night?”

“Yes I did.”

Koharu glanced over, “Looks like I’m not the only one in this house that tucks the children in during nappy time.”

“Shut it, Koharu.” Tomoru snapped, still his moody morning self.

“I didn’t just want to leave you at your desk hunched over while asleep, Tomoru. That’s how you develop back pain!” Felix explained.

“I’ve had occasional back pain since junior high…” Tomoru grumbled.

“A weak back will do you no good on stage!” Felix replied.

“You’re right…” Tomoru said, “I have to get ready for work now.”

“Have a good day, Tomoru!” Koharu beamed.

“You too.”

Felix eyed Tomoru as he shuffled his way out the door and said some words under his breath as he did. Koharu made up some toast for breakfast and then soon went back to his room. Felix really had no plans for the day, so he made himself a cup of tea and pondered about what he could do for the day.

“ _Tomoru’s office was quite a disaster… Would he appreciate it if I got rid of all those cans and cleaned it up for him?_ ” Felix thought, “ _I bet it will be a lovely surprise when he gets home this afternoon, I will do it for him!_ ”

After finishing his tea, Felix grabbed a plastic bag and rushed into Tomoru’s office. He threw every energy drink can on the desk into the bag and made his way outside to dump the cans into the nearest recycling bin. He recycled the plastic bag there as well. Once back in Tomoru’s office, he began to neatly brush and stack all the loose papers together. As he did this, he uncovered a grey notebook with various scribbles on the front.

“What might this be?” Felix inquired to himself.

He flipped through the pages and read paragraphs upon paragraphs about potential ideas for future live shows. There were demons, darker versions of their onstage personas, epic props and beautiful roses all doodled within the pages. Upon seeing drawings of himself, Felix smiled, “Fufu… Tomoru is quite the artist!”

Pulling out his phone, Felix took a few photos of the notebook and posted them onto his social media for their fans to see. He was sure they would get a kick out of his discovery. When he was finished, he placed the notebook down at the very top of the stacks of papers. 

“ _I simply can’t wait for Tomoru to see this!_ ” Felix thought to himself, looking back at the cleaning he had done.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At the time of publishing this, happy 4 day late birthday to Jun! He appears quite a bit in this chapter because I started writing it on his birthday, actually... Also, I apologize in advance for all the dialogue in this chapter, it is very dialogue heavy but I hope you guys enjoy it!

"Oh. My. GOD Feli-san!"

Felix smiled to himself, "Fufu… Do you like it, Tomoru?"

"You didn't have to clean everything up, I was gonna do it eventually…" Tomoru replied.

"Well I cleaned it anyway!"

Tomoru adjusted his glasses, taking in his now clean office. There was not a can of energy drink in sight and the scattered papers were all in order. He simply did not know how to respond to Felix's kindness, so he stood there speechless.

With a flick of Felix's hand, the silence was broken, "Well, I'm going to my bedroom to spend some time by myself before we rehearse tonight!"

Tomoru snapped back into reality, "We're practicing tonight?"

Felix nodded, "Daimon doesn't have a shift at his night job tonight, so we're going to rehearse throughout this evening and discuss stage directions for our next show. Did you forget?"

"I did… I apologize."

"Don't worry about makeup or anything, we're just going to the local studio to practice! It's not like anybody will see us." Felix assured him.

"I figured… I'll go get myself ready too."

The two parted ways to their separate rooms. Tomoru picked up his guitar, fiddling with it in his hands a bit but not playing anything. The guitar was jet black and had a spikey top to it, not sharp enough to stab a man but certainly sharp enough to poke a bit if somebody pressed into it.

Tomoru sighed to himself and leaned the guitar back against the wall, not wanting to damage it from his fiddling. He flopped down onto his bed, stretching his legs out and taking a moment for himself to relax before rehearsal.

\---

The sound of the two guitars, Daimon's drums, and Koharu's bass blended together powerfully in the rehearsal room, with Felix's vocals being the pretty red bow to wrap the present together. After finishing a song, Felix turned to face the band. Everybody loosened up under his gaze.

"What are we going to do for stage directions during that song?" Felix inquired.

Tomoru could feel the eyes of everyone in Fantôme Iris fall upon him. He knew he was the one who gave the most ideas for what antics to pull onstage, but the energy created by everyone staring at him was mildly threatening this time around.

"Is this the song where we're gonna introduce Dark Light?" Koharu asked.

At that moment, Tomoru felt his stomach drop to the bottom of his body. He recognized that name, Dark Light was a character he had created in his private journal. He had never told anybody about that particular piece of writing, meaning that somebody had snooped in his journal.

"I think that would be a good idea," Daimon chimed in, "I quite liked the concept Tomoru drew up for him."

Tomoru cut in, "E-Excuse me, but how exactly do you all know about that?!"

"Tomoru, have you checked your socials lately?" Koharu cocked his head to the side a small bit, looking at Tomoru.

"N-No, I haven't."

Jun pulled his phone out of his pocket and showed Tomoru a post on social media. It was a picture of a doodle he did of Dark Light from his journal. "Felix found some of your concepts and decided to share…" Jun told him.

"Our underlings quite like it as well! They think your artwork is spectacular, Tomoru!" Felix added.

Tomoru's head fell into his palms, almost as if his world had come crashing down on him in that moment. If Felix had gone through his journal, did that mean he saw everything else he had written? His detailed fantasies, his scribbles, everything? He was, quite frankly, very embarrassed to have been exposed in such a manner. A few tears escaped his eyes but he rubbed them off and quickly picked his head back up again.

"Should we continue with stage directions another time?" Daimon asked.

"Please…" Tomoru whined.

"We have limited time in this studio anyways, let's get to playing some more." Koharu spoke.

"Very well then, let us rehearse once more, my kindred!" Felix exclaimed, turning back around to his mic.

During the next song they had practiced, Tomoru tried his very hardest to really slam any motivation he could muster into his guitar. Felix stood somewhat in front of him, his blonde hair bouncing and swaying with every overexaggerated move he made. It's waves were like a sea of gold that rested on his back and shoulders. Every tap of his foot or flick of his hand was graceful but strong at the same time, which was fitting for a man who was meant to be the King of Vampires. Tomoru found himself enraptured looking at Felix during the next few songs they played, so much so to the point where he slipped up on a few notes.

 _"Shit."_ He thought to himself, hoping deep down that nobody noticed his mistake. Luckily, he composed himself again and he didn't audibly hear anybody slipping up after his mistake. They went through the song with no problems. As they finished off, he could hear the heavy breathing of his bandmates around him.

"Tomoru, be sure to keep focus next time." Daimon said to him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"I apologize, I just-"

Tomoru was cut off by a sudden throbbing sensation in his head. He began to feel a bit numb, dizzy even, so he clasped his forehead and wrapped his arm instinctively around Daimon's shoulder. "Can we take five? I'm a little lightheaded."

"Of course, is everything alright, Tomoru?" Koharu asked, clearly worried.

"It's just low blood pressure, I'll be fine. I just have to step out for a minute." Tomoru replied.

"I'll go out with you to make sure you're okay!" Jun spoke up, putting his guitar down against the wall.

"Alright, we shall take five! Stay safe you two." Felix said.

"Thank you, Feli-san." Tomoru said back, gently putting down his guitar as well.

Tomoru made his way out of the room they were practicing in, Jun not far behind them. The two closed the door and Tomoru leaned against the wall outside the room to balance himself a bit.

"Hey, are you sure everything is alright, Tomoru? You don't normally slip up like that, in fact, you're one of the most perfect players out of all of us." Jun asked, fidgeting worriedly with his hands.

"I swear I'm fine, my low blood pressure just kicked in at the wrong time."

Jun swept some of his bangs to the side so he could look at Tomoru without hair in the way. "Is it 'cause you just found out Felix posted your ideas without your permission?" 

"No, I'm over that now. Those ideas were gonna be shared sometime anyway, just maybe not in the way Felix did it. I just need to cool my head." Tomoru explained.

In Jun's hand was a water bottle he had carried out with him. He cracked the lid open and handed it to Tomoru. "Take this." He said. 

"Thank you, Jun."

As Tomoru took a long sip from the water bottle, Jun asked him yet another question, "Did you get distracted by something?"

Tomoru choked on his water a bit. He swallowed it and coughed hoarsely, "No."

Jun's unnerved face turned to that of a slightly mischievous one, "That reaction says otherwise."

"Oh, c'mon, you know me too well."

"That's what best friends are for, Tomoru! What distracted you?"

Tomoru sighed, "I just kind of lost track of my thoughts and found myself staring at Felix…"

Jun nudged Tomoru's shoulder playfully, "Does somebody have the hots for a certain vocalist?"

"Don't be so loud!" Tomoru exclaimed, "And no, I don't. I just blanked out a bit because of my light headedness, that's all."

"I mean, even if you did, you know… _like Felix_ I wouldn't blame you. H-He's very handsome… he's like a super expensive S-tier skin for a character in a game!" Jun told Tomoru.

"I don't really understand your game lingo but I guess you're right." Tomoru replied, "I think I'm feeling a bit better. Can we go back in?"

"O-Oh! Of course, right, we have to rehearse!" Jun stuttered, opening the door to the practice room to let the two of them in.

"Welcome back, you two." Daimon greeted them.

Koharu spoke, "While you guys were gone, we decided we're gonna cut rehearsal short here. We really don't want to play without you, Tomoru, but we also don't want to push you too hard. It's best that we all go home and get some rest, especially you Tomoru."

Tomoru was about to speak up in protest, but decided against it. He fully understood why they would worry about him like this, so he nodded in agreement, "I understand."

"Plus, we don't have another big live show booked for another week and a half, so we'll have plenty of time to rehearse if we use our time wisely." Koharu continued.

"Let us make our way home, shall we?" Felix said.

Luckily, the sharehouse was only about 7 minutes by drive from the studio, so it didn't take them long to pack up and drive back to their home. When everyone got back, they all settled into their quarters of the house and didn't speak much. Tomoru didn't have any work that needed to be done urgently that night, so he went to his bedroom and sat on his bed.

He thought about what Jun had said to him earlier about "having the hots" for Felix. He knew that Jun was most likely just joking around with him, as friends do, but it stuck with him from the moment he had said it. Tomoru wasn't what one would call a player, far from it, but he certainly wasn't completely innocent when it came to relationships. He had had a fair share of relationships in his past, college girlfriends and even a hook up here and there. Hell, he was guilty of sharing a couple of half-drunken late night kisses with Jun and a few others during parties. However, his job as both a businessman and a band member had made him so busy that he didn't really have time to think about settling down with someone and having a long-term relationship with them. He had completely forgotten what it was like to be in love.

Perhaps what he was feeling towards Felix was romantic. He grabbed a nearby pillow and shoved his face directly into it. He couldn't possibly have fallen for the lead singer of his band. The more he thought about it being true, the more he thought about how much of a recipe for disaster that was.

_"What if he doesn't like me back and it ruins our friendship? What if he does like me back? Will it be awkward for the rest of our band to see us together? Will our relationship be public? Will we have to hide it from our record company so that the public doesn't shame us? Will our company force us into other relationships for publicity?"_

Many thoughts plagued Tomoru's mind at that moment, but they were cut short by a knock on the door.

" _Salut, mon ami!_ May I come in?"

 _"Speak of the devil."_ Tomoru thought, tossing his pillow to the side and standing up to open the door. "What's up, Felix?"

"I just wanted to talk to you about tonight." Felix replied.

Tomoru took a seat on his bed and gestured for Felix to do the same. Felix picked up on it and sat next to him. "What about tonight did you want to talk about?" Tomoru asked.

"I wanted to let you know that I was the one who said we should, as one might say, ‘call it quits’ for the evening. You are a very hardworking man Tomoru, and for that I admire you, but you have seemed a bit… off as of recently. I really did not want you to put in too much while you are not in the best condition, so I thought it would be for the best for you to get some rest.” Felix explained, gripping onto Tomoru’s sheet and avoiding eye contact.

Tomoru was slightly in disbelief. Typically Felix simply went about his day joyously without a care in the world as to what other people said to him. When he made bad food, he never listened, he just kept making more food. When he dressed up in very eccentric looking clothes and got weird stares in public, he never paid them any mind, in fact, he just dressed up even more. So for Felix to take the time to sit down and tell Tomoru he cares was astounding to him.

“Feli-san, you really don’t have to do that much for me…” Tomoru uttered.

“Nonsense, Tomoru!” Felix turned to look Tomoru in the eye, lifting up Tomoru’s chin with one hand, “After all, I wouldn’t want my underling to fail his duties for his Lord.”

The tension that built up in that moment was enough to make Tomoru blush a bit. Was he embarrassed by the way Felix held his chin? Was this just further confirmation he was, in fact, in love with Felix? It didn’t matter, all he knew was that his heart was racing and he was not about to make an effort to move. Felix leaned in and quickly pecked Tomoru on both of his cheeks before taking his hand away from Tomoru’s chin.

“W-What was that for?” Tomoru managed to squeak out.

“In my home country, it’s customary for friends and even strangers at times to give each other kisses to make others feel better. I thought I would give some to you since you are a good friend of mine and I do not want you to be upset, Tomoru!” Felix replied gleefully, “Oh, I forgot it’s not quite normal to do that in Japan… Did I accidentally offend you in any way, _mon ami_?”

“No! No, you didn’t, I’m just not used to such treatment from friends. It felt very sudden, that’s all.”

“My apologies! I will not do it again!” Felix said.

Tomoru panicked a bit, “No you can continue to do that! I don’t mind! It’s just, people might get the wrong idea and I wouldn’t want to damage our reputation in any way!”

“So is it alright for me to do it in private?”

“S-Sure…”

Felix smiled and gave Tomoru yet another kiss on the cheek. A small wave of emotions hit Tomoru, causing him to tear up a bit. He quickly wiped his moist eyes with his sleeve, hoping Felix wouldn’t notice.

“Goodness, me… Do the Japanese really not show their loved ones that much affection?” Felix shook his head.

 _“Shit, he noticed.”_ Tomoru thought.

Felix stood up and smiled again, “I think I’ll leave you to get some rest. You clearly need it, Tomoru… If you need me, I will be making an evening tea. _Adieu_!”

Before Tomoru could even bid Felix adieu in return, Felix was out the door. He rubbed his cheek softly, savoring the feeling of Felix’s platonic kiss as if he could feel his spirit do it again and again. Tomoru had his doubts about being in love with Felix, but it sure was undeniable now that Felix had practically slapped him across the face with unexpected attention.

He crashed his face into his pillow, thinking to himself, _“Why must I be infatuated by that stupid, pretty Frenchman?”_


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felix takes Tomoru out for a nice day together, and soon realizes how he truly feels about Tomoru.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi apologies for not updating in so long! Hope you can all enjoy Felix's turn on the yearning >:)

Going through one’s thoughts was always better over a cup of tea.

Of course, this could be applied to many things. Conversing with people was always more of a pleasure with a cup of tea in hand and early morning discussions were always easier when everyone had had their morning cup of tea. However, Felix was alone with his cup of tea this time. Having just finished stirring the freshly brewed tea, he took a small sip, reflecting on himself.

_“Tomoru… That poor man deserves a break. His job seems to be quite overwhelming.”_

In the distance, he could hear Jun speaking to himself in his room. Jun was most likely on a live stream or recording some sort of video game footage. This was a common occurrence, as Jun was a professional gamer as a job.

_“Even a man like Jun, who is not officially seen as an employee and struggles to make a stable income at times, seems more content with his work schedule than Tomoru. Although all of our jobs have their ups and downs, Tomoru’s seems to have the most downs…”_ Felix thought to himself, sipping his tea, _“My dear friend… I admire your work ethic, but you deserve some time to relax yourself.”_

As Felix absentmindedly took another sip from his teacup, an idea struck him. He put his teacup down and went to look at the calendar on the wall. Although everybody had their own calendars to keep track of their own personal affairs on their phones, when the members of Fantôme Iris moved into their shared home, they agreed to keep a shared calendar on the wall to keep track of rehearsals, lives, and when everybody had days off. Felix dragged his finger lightly through the coming days of the week, Monday through Saturday. His finger stopped on Friday, as he noticed Tomoru had a day off on that particular day.

_“If Tomoru has a day off this coming Friday, I can book a day off of work and take him somewhere nice to relax his aching body throughout the day.”_

Felix smiled to himself and returned to his cup of tea. “Where to take him though…” He muttered to himself under his breath, taking a long sip of his tea.

“You going on a date, Felix?”

Startled, Felix nearly spat out his tea, but he courteously kept it in his mouth and only choked a bit on it. He swallowed and turned around to face the voice who had asked him a question, “Koharu, _oh mon dieu_ , do not sneak up on me like that!”

Koharu chuckled, “Apologies, but I heard you mumblin’ about wanting to take somebody out? Have you got your eyes on somebody?”

“Yes, I do. I want to take Tomoru out somewhere.”

The pink haired man whistled at Felix, “I didn’t know you swung that way, Felix… I support you and all but going after a member of our own band? That’s quite bold.”

“I think you misunderstand, I simply want to take him somewhere nice as a gesture of my friendship, similar to how Daimon and you are very close friends. I believe Tomoru deserves a break from his hard work, and he has a day off this upcoming Friday.” Felix corrected him.

“Oh, right, you’re just one of those buddy-buddy European guys who kisses their friends on the cheeks and whatnot… I forgot about that.” Koharu remarked, “Want me to show you some nearby places I think Tomoru would like?”

“That would be very appreciated!” Felix exclaimed.

The two went for an evening drive around the neighbourhood. Koharu pointed out various stores, restaurants, and other places around Nagoya that he’d gone to with Daimon in the past. Felix examined them all carefully, thinking about which one he believed would be best suited for Tomoru on his day off. He then realized he had yet to actually confirm if Tomoru wanted to do anything, so he pulled out his phone and texted Tomoru as Koharu drove him around.

_Felix: Would you like to go somewhere nice this Friday? Just the two of us. I have some spots in mind._

Not long after he sent his text, he got a reply from Tomoru.

_Tomoru: Sure. Where exactly though?_

Felix still wasn’t sure of that himself. 

_Felix: Somewhere special :)_

_Tomoru: K_

Now that he had a bit of confirmation from Tomoru, he turned his phone off and continued his drive with Koharu. 

\---

Friday morning, Felix was up early to prepare himself for his day out with Tomoru. He was normally up early anyways for his teaching job, but this particular morning he got up early to make himself look very presentable.

He slipped on a black blazer with no top underneath as well as a pair of well-fitted black pants. No outfit was complete without accessories, so he clipped a few silver necklaces around his neck that seemingly led into his chest bone. In his mirror, he powdered on a small bit of purple eyeshadow and he spread a touch of mascara on his eyelashes. To top it all off, he put his long hair up in a ponytail, tying it with a nice scrunchie instead of his usual ribbons. 

After examining himself one last time in the mirror, he gave himself a reaffirming smile and made his way to Tomoru's room, sliding the door open with no permission to enter.

"Good morning, Tomoru!" He beamed.

Tomoru rolled over in his bed and let out a very frustrated groaning noise. Typical morning behavior for Tomoru. Felix didn't want to poke the bear, so instead he playfully called out to the bear instead, "It is time to wake up, _mon ami_!"

Tomoru grumbled, "It's my day off… Can't I just get some goddamn sleep?" 

"Fufu… Typical morning Tomoru… Are you perhaps so tired that you forgot about our outing today?" Felix asked politely.

The black haired man ejected upwards, almost as if he had just woken up from a nightmare. He was wide-eyed and gripping his sheets.

"Shit, I need to get ready! Did I sleep in? Are we going to be late?" Tomoru quickly said.

"Relax, Tomoru, watch your language!" Felix said, "It's still the morning, you have more than enough time to get ready. I simply wanted to wake you up so we could get out into the city before it gets horribly busy."

"You had me thinking I had slept in…" Tomoru massaged his temples, "I might lay back down though, my head is pounding… Ugh…"

"You do that, I will be getting my morning tea!"

With that, Felix stepped away from the doorframe of Tomoru's room. 

Felix quickly fixed himself up a cup of tea and sat down to drink it, scrolling through his social media while doing so. He thought he looked quite cute that day, so he took a picture of himself and uploaded it to his own social media for his fans to see. In mere moments, his notifications began to buzz with excitement. He smiled in amusement at his influence and continued to sip his tea until the cup was empty.

\---

“Are you sure we have to walk there? My head is still pounding a bit…” Tomoru whined.

“If you have to rest, we can stop. However, the place I have in mind is not far from here and it never hurts to get your steps for the day in!” Felix chimed.

“I guess doing some walking for once won’t hurt me… I could really use it.Will people even realize we’re together though? I mean, you’re dressed like you could be a model for a high-end brand and here I am with a button up and wool sweater I threw on quickly.”

Felix ruffled Tomoru’s short hair, “Of course! I will be sure to stick by your side this whole time. If you’d like, we can hold hands so that you don’t get lost.”

Tomoru’s cheeks flushed a bit, “A-Ah no, it’s fine! I’m good with directions, it’s not like Nagoya is the most crowded place in Japan anyways!” 

Felix grabbed a hold of Tomoru’s hand, interlocking their fingers and bringing his hand up to kiss it gently on the palm as they walked, “Whatever you say, my right hand man.”

The black haired man simply cleared his throat and kept walking, making sure nobody was around to have seen that. “Feli-san, what would happen if someone… y’know… caught you doing such things?”

“I mean, we already have to provide fanservice for them with our onstage personas. It would probably just get passed off as me being my usual foreign self.” Felix replied with a smile.

“That is true…” Tomoru said, “Just- uhm, please don’t do it again.”

Felix chuckled, “You’re blushing, Tomoru.”

“Are we nearly at the place you wanted to bring me?”

The blonde man looked out to the road in front of them and soon noticed how close they were to the nearest bay. Time had passed significantly in the time they were bantering. “Yes, we are almost at the bay.”

The two walked down the street until they got to a spot at the edge of a bay. There was a fence barring them off from going into the water and several benches and trees scattered around. Felix leaned his arms against the fence. “Isn’t it beautiful, Tomoru?”

“The bay?” Tomoru asked, leaning next to Felix on the fence, “I haven’t really had the time to look at it like this in a long time. I usually just drive by on my way to work. But yes, it is quite nice looking at the still water like this.”

“I thought the water might relax your mind. Plus, there is a ramen shop not far so we can get some lunch afterwards.” Felix explained.

“Ah, that is very considerate.”

Felix laughed, “That is only the bare minimum a man like me can do for you! If we were back in my home country, well, I’d show you dozens of attractions and cities! I would be sure to have a magnificent feast prepared for you!”

“I mean… That would be lovely! However, you really wouldn’t have to do that much for an average guy like me… Maybe spoil Jun or someone else instead, he could use a big meal.” Tomoru said. 

Felix turned to face Tomoru, placing a hand on his shoulder as he gazed into his eyes. Tomoru turned around as well. The breeze caught Tomoru’s fluffy hair in just the right way and caused it to stick up a small bit as he peered at Felix expectantly. Felix couldn’t help but think he looked cute, the way his eyes widened at his touch and his mouth gaped open slightly in anticipation. The Frenchman felt his fingertips warm up just a little bit.

“Listen, I would spoil every member of Fantôme Iris, as they are all my friends, but that includes you, Tomoru! You are just as special and talented as me and the rest of the band. You have strengths that even I cannot obtain. I mean, just think about it, you are most definitely our hardest working member! Even if you consider yourself to be an average businessman, you are most definitely worthy of my affection as well.”

Tomoru simply stared, amazed and shocked at the amount Felix had genuinely shown his true feelings rather than just being the pompous airhead he normally was. Felix’s hand slowly dragged off of Tomoru’s shoulder and he rested his arm on the metal bars once again. It soon hit Felix just how much of his heart and raw emotion he had spilled out to Tomoru. He felt almost embarrassed cracking his aristocratic shell to show something more pure, more raw, even if it was to a trusted friend of his.

“I-I mean, you are my wise right hand man, after all.” Felix choked out afterwards in a deeper voice, putting on a smile and toying with his ponytail.

Tomoru laughed out through his breaths and placed a hand on Felix’s back. “Yes, my lord.”

Felix couldn’t help but blush just a bit at Tomoru’s hand giving him a reassuring touch. Of course, Felix had done many ballroom dances and courted several women in his time, but he had never quite experienced attraction to them like he did with Tomoru. When in Tomoru’s presence he felt the urge to take care of him, to completely forget his aristocratic background and live his life normally with him. With women he never quite felt anything beyond wanting to be nice to them for the sake of being a respectful person. With each kiss he gave to them and each hip he touched, he didn’t feel anything. If anything, he simply felt out of place, but he brushed it off as he knew his family would want him to marry a beautiful woman. With Tomoru he felt… genuine love.

The way he wished to care for Tomoru, spend more time with him, see him smile and prosper. The way his fingertips warmed up when he saw Tomoru’s face look up at him. It was all feelings of love. He loved Tomoru.

The blonde man cleared his throat, “Would you like to go get lunch soon?”

Tomoru looked over, “Hm? Oh! Yes, of course, but once this fish swims away.”

Confused by what he meant, Felix looked into the murky water to see the silhouette of a fish swimming close to the dock in the water. It swam in various directions, in circles, and then in the opposite direction from Tomoru and Felix.

“Goodbye, fishie!” Tomoru said, waving over the fence as if the fish could wave back to him.

Felix chuckled, “That is a magnificent sight… I like how it rushes away into the cool waves of the bay.”

The black haired man stood up, stretching his back out from all the leaning over he had done. “Alright! Now we can go get lunch!”

“Off we go then.”

\---

By the time the two men had finished with their day and gotten back to the sharehouse, they were both immensely tired. Although Felix didn’t like to admit he was as tired, if not more tired than Tomoru, he was still bummed. From the walking, to the food they had eaten to even Felix stopping by a few stores along the way to pick up various cute accessories he saw through the windows. When they got back, Felix put his purchases into his room and Tomoru almost instantly sunk into the nearest couch.

“Welcome back, you two!” Koharu greeted from the kitchen, “Did you two have fun?”

“Yep!” Tomoru groaned from his seat.

“Of course!” Felix added.

“That’s good to hear. I’m fixin’ up some dinner if you’d like a serving.” Koharu said.

“I am quite alright, I’m sure Tomoru is too. We had quite the large bowls of ramen on our way back here.” Felix hummed, “I would like to make myself a cup of tea though.”

Koharu shuffled and made space for Felix to get to the kettle. “Go ahead, just don’t make the kettle explode.”

Felix sighed, “I make tea for myself every day, silly! I can do it quite fine, thank you very much.”

“Famous last words.” Koharu snickered.

He simply rolled his eyes a bit at Koharu and quickly boiled some water to make tea for himself. Once his cup was ready, he sat in the living room with it on a sofa away from Tomoru. Tomoru was taking up an entire couch by laying down on it and flipping through channels on the TV.

“How about we watch a Japanese drama?” Felix suggested.

“I didn’t know you liked those, Felix. I’m not surprised, but sure.” Tomoru replied, flipping the channel.

As Felix gazed at the television, he couldn’t help but have his mind wander to various places. It was partly focused on the couple on TV kissing passionately to up the drama, partly focused on the taste of his tea as it washed its way down his throat, and partly on Tomoru, who looked irresistibly cute squishing one of the couch cushions near his face while he laid down.

Felix felt his heart race. He had come to terms with his love for Tomoru somewhat earlier, but he wasn’t quite sure about what to do next. He could always continue to tease Tomoru until eventually he got the hint and things escalated, or he could tell him upfront sometime. However, the timing had to be right, he couldn’t just stumble into his office one day to confess his love, he had to make sure Tomoru felt extra special as he did it. He wanted candles, roses, something to remember. So, how was he to confess to Tomoru? He wasn’t sure.

“Hey, Feli-san, do you mind getting me one of my drinks out of the fridge?”

He snapped out of his thoughts, quickly looking at Tomoru. He noticed in the time he was in a haze thinking, he had finished his tea. He nodded and stood up. “Of course.”

Felix went to the kitchen, cherishing the smell of Koharu’s delectable cooking, and put his teacup in the kitchen sink. He opened the fridge and grabbed a can of Tomoru’s energy drinks. When he went back, he handed it to Tomoru, who lazily plucked it from Felix’s hand.

“Thank you.”

He sat down once again and tried to watch the TV, but couldn’t bring himself to focus. His brain was all over the place thinking about Tomoru, and it didn’t help that Tomoru was in his presence either. He got up again and went to his bedroom.

“Where are you going?” Tomoru asked.

“To my room, of course!” Felix responded.

“Alright, I’m turning something else on then.” Tomoru said, flipping through the TV channels once more.

Felix turned and went to his bedroom, closing the door behind him and sitting down on his bed. He let his hair out, watching as his golden rivulets of hair all tumbled onto his back and shoulders. He then pulled his phone out of his pocket, opening the photo gallery and finding an image of a selfie he had taken of Fantôme Iris, no, of his friends, the last time they had performed a concert together. He zoomed into Tomoru’s smiling face. Although he was in costume and ready to become his stage persona, Light, Felix knew that it was Tomoru in the picture, he could tell by his bright smile. He sighed.

“One day I will show you how I truly feel, Tomoru.”


	5. Chapter 5

Tomorrow was the day Fantôme Iris was going to be having a live show. Everyone had been working hard to perfect what they were going to do, but Tomoru was especially tired as per usual. Yearning for a member of your band coupled with hours of practice and work really took a toll on him, but it didn't matter. He knew the rush of tomorrow's live show was going to kick his soul back into his body.

He sighed to himself. Now was no time to be stressing himself over lovey dovey feelings and yet, he was still thinking deeply about how and when he should tell Felix how he feels. He knew he could just internalize it, crush it, and never let it out, but that felt wrong. It would only bubble back up and come out of him eventually, so he might as well have just told Felix, his only problem was finding an appropriate time to do so.

Almost as if on cue while Tomoru was deep in thought, Jun stumbled into his room. 

"Hey, Jun. What brings you here?" Tomoru beamed.

"I just wanted to see you, I just ended off a livestream and I felt lonely sitting in my room by myself."

"Did you make any money from the stream this time?" Tomoru asked.

"Actually, I did!" Jun exclaimed, "Someone donated 20,000 yen to me this time!"

"20,000?! That's amazing!" Tomoru excitedly replied.

"I know, right?! I can't believe my fans would give so much!"

As happy as he was for his best friend, Tomoru couldn't help but continue to have Felix on his brain. Having the hots for a Frenchman will do that to you. He ushered for Jun to sit down next to him on his bed. Jun closed the door and shuffled a bit next to Tomoru.

"I hate to break the energy, but do you mind if I tell you something, Jun?" Tomoru asked.

"O-Of course! We're best friends, you can tell me anything." Jun stuttered out in response.

Tomoru sighed, "You were right."

"About what?" Jun asked.

"You were right. I do have the hots for Felix." Tomoru responded.

Jun's mouth gaped open, "W-Wait! I was only joking when I originally said that, you mean to tell me it was true?!"

"Yes," Tomoru said, "that day I was distracted during practice because… I have f-feelings for Felix… I just felt like I should tell you because s-somebody besides just me should know…"

Jun placed a hand on Tomoru's cheek. Tomoru looked up at him, their eyes locking with one another, or at least, Tomoru's eyes and the very small parts of Jun's eyes that were visible beneath his long bangs. Jun squished his cheek a bit in his palm. "Tomoru, your face is getting really hot."

"Y-Yeah… Because this is embarrassing! I fell for the vocalist of our band!"

"I-It's okay! Love who you want to, y-you can't really help it too much…" Jun replied, "So, are you gonna tell him?"

Tomoru sighed once again. A deep, somewhat frustrated sigh. "I am. I just don't know how."

Jun took his hand off of Tomoru's face and placed one hand on his chin in thought. After a few seconds of thinking, his face lit up and he turned back to Tomoru. "Tomorrow, after our live. You get him alone while you're both hot and sweaty and in a moment of passion you tell him your feelings! Just… n-not with your Light persona… because this is about your actual feelings." Jun explained.

Tomoru nodded along as he listened, "That doesn't sound half bad… I could probably do that. Or maybe when we get back home after the show I can tell him then!"

"Yeah! That's the spirit!" Jun cheered.

"Alright. I think I got it. Thank you, Jun. You're a lifesaver!"

Jun chuckled, "P-Please… I'm only a lifesaver because I'm a gamer… Get it? We save our lives? Our lives in the games…?"

The black haired man blankly stared at Jun, trying to suppress a giggle at his awful joke. "Yes. I get it."

"I-I apologize, that was bad."

Tomoru giggled a bit under his breath, "I really didn't want to say it but it was."

The two of them burst into laughter over their terrible sense of humor and wrapped their arms around each other's shoulders. After their laughter had died out, Jun broke away and stood up. Tomoru flopped down onto his bed and laid on his back.

"I'm gonna leave you to think about your epic confession in peace. I need to get a snack, I'm hungry." Jun said.

"Can you get me one of my energy drinks from the fridge?" Tomoru asked.

"Sure."

While Jun made his way out, Tomoru curled onto his side and exhaled sharply. The thought of confessing to Felix after their upcoming show seemed easy enough in theory, but deep down he knew it might become a disaster in practice. Life always found ways to wash people off the paths they wished to pursue.

He shook that thought from his head. If he manifested something bad happening, then of course things would end horribly. Tomoru had to think positively. He closed his eyes and pictured the confession in his head. Just the two of them, Tomoru pouring his heart out and Felix reciprocating his love, sealing it all at the end with a kiss. He played this scene in his head over and over again, his face getting more and more red in colour the more he thought it out, until he eventually slammed his face into his pillow and laid there in his flustered state.

"Tomoru, here's your energy drink."

Tomoru sat up quickly and grabbed the can from Jun's hands, "Thank you."

As he cracked the can of his signature drink open and sipped it's sweet, caffeine-filled nectar, he thought to himself. _"Things are going to be amazing tomorrow. You have this, Tomoru."_

\---

The night of the show. Everyone was backstage and getting ready to go onstage with their stage personas. Jun was using an unhealthy amount of gel to keep half of his hair tucked back, Daimon was doing the finishing touches of Koharu's makeup, Felix was adjusting the rose on his coat, and Tomoru was also doing finishing touches on his look.

He grabbed a makeup brush and pat down some dark purple eyeshadow onto his eyes. The eyeshadow had a bit of a chunky look to it, so he smeared it around on his eyelid in hopes of distributing the powder better.

"Would you like some help with your eyeshadow, _mon ami?_ " 

Tomoru turned and saw Felix looking down on him with a warm smile. Tomoru smiled back. "Yes please."

Felix took a seat next to him and gently fluttered the brush across his eyelids. Before he knew it, Felix was telling him to open his eyes. When he did, his eyeshadow looked much better than when he attempted to do it. "Ah, it's gorgeous, thank you very much!"

"My pleasure, but if anybody, you should be thanking dear Daimon. He's the one who taught me how to do it so well." Felix replied.

Daimon was spreading mascara across Koharu's eyelashes as Felix complimented his skill. He didn't reply, but Tomoru could almost tell he was flattered by Felix's compliment. After living with Daimon for an extended period of time, he got used to his range of very small emotions.

"We're gonna be on in five!" Jun exclaimed.

Daimon packed away his makeup and Koharu stood up, moving his feet around in his high heels. "Shall we get into character then?" Koharu asked.

"But of course, my underlings… Now is our time to bring the start of a nation to all of our kindred of the night!" Felix announced joyfully.

Felix's voice did not change much from when he normally spoke, however, he was a lot more pompous than usual and you could tell when he was trying to get into the mind of the character Felix, as opposed to his regular self, Felix. Jun on the other hand was the polar opposite of his shy self when he got into the mind of Zack.

"BWAHAHAHAHA! LET'S FUCKING DO THIS!" Zack yelled, his tongue hanging out and his hands aggressively eager to grip his guitar.

Koharu was a lot more feminine when he put on his persona, as his character, Haru, was meant to be a Queen. "How vulgar!" Haru exclaimed in response to Zack's sudden outburst.

Daimon didn't speak. Tomoru and everybody else knew well that he wasn't trying to keep out of being in character by staying silent, but rather, his character was almost completely silent. Unless prompted to speak, Daimon's character, the clergyman D, was silent.

With everybody else in character, it was Tomoru's turn to say goodbye to being regular old Tomoru Kurokawa for the night and instead become the half-human, half-vampire right hand man of Felix, Light. He chuckled and stood up, grabbing his guitar as he did, "Shall we go, my Lord?"

"We shall." Felix replied.

Everybody took a deep breath and huddled together in a circular formation. For this moment, they were out of character. They all put their hands together in the center of the circle, bounced them up and down a few times, and then swung them up into the air. "We are… Fantôme Iris!" They happily cried out in unison.

As they brought their hands down, their fingers all wiggled in a rain-like movement until they reached their sides once again. With that, they got into character again and began to make their way onstage for their live show.

Everything went smoothly. Their entrances were perfectly coordinated and they hadn't slipped on any of the songs or parts in between that they had practiced repeatedly. Felix and Zack occasionally threw in an extra gimmick, shout, or line here and there, but those were only natural. Felix's carefree attitude seeped into his character, and a live performance was never fun unless they decided to throw in things like that to spice it up.

However, Tomoru was caught off guard. Felix called him over to shred his guitar for the audience to see, normal enough. As Light played, Felix craned his neck to the side a bit with his fingers, which was also something that wasn't too out of the ordinary. Usually at this point he would do a playful chomp near his neck to symbolize, well, vampirism. However, this time he cradled Light's head and licked up his neck, staring down the audience as he did so. It was only after that gesture that he did his regularly scheduled air-bite. Although Tomoru was trying his best to be in character, he couldn't help but get a sudden shock from this.

Light ran back to his designated spot onstage. He continued to play and follow his cues for the rest of the show, but Tomoru nearly went red in the face doing so. He could practically feel the sudden dragging of Felix's tongue down his neck the whole time. It drove him wild. At times he nearly messed up and threw everybody off, but he knew he couldn't afford to do that. Not now, not when he was onstage in front of a giant crowd rather than an overheated practice room at some underground establishment in Nagoya.

Tomoru could've sworn he caught Felix passing a lot more glances than usual at him. Even a few winks as well. Was he just so exhausted that he was imagining things? He didn't know, nor was he about to dwell on these things and question them too deeply in that moment.

When the show ended and everyone poured offstage, waving their final goodbyes for the night at their overwhelmingly enthused audience, Tomoru's Light persona slipped away. He rubbed his neck with his sleeve, still remembering the feeling there vividly. 

"A-Ah, we did it!" Jun exclaimed.

"Of course, and we did amazing!" Koharu beamed in reply.

Felix added, "I agree. I'm so very proud of all of us!"

Daimon smiled and nodded, "Good job."

Tomoru continued to rub his neck, almost as if there was an itch there that he couldn't quite get out.

"Why do ya keep rubbing your neck so much, Tomoru? Are you allergic to Felix's tongue or somethin'?" Koharu asked.

"Oh goodness, I sure hope not!" Felix said, "I should have checked your allergies first!"

Tomoru waved his hands around in a panic, "No, no! That's not it, I swear I'm not allergic to anything! You can't even be allergic to someone else's body part, t-that's ridiculous! It was just… so sudden of Felix to _lick_ me that I couldn't shake the feeling off me, y'know?"

"I am afraid Tomoru's correct… That was very unexpected of me to do. I must say, I don't really know what got into me when I did that. Fufu… Perhaps it is good to have such a change, to bring a new side of Felix onstage." Felix explained.

"Yeah, alright!" Koharu said, wiping off the makeup he had practically sweat off during the show.

It didn't take long for everyone to pack their things, leave the establishment, and drive back to their sharehouse. Once there, everyone went to their quarters and changed into their casual clothing. Almost everyone was in pajamas, with the exception of Daimon who had a night shift that night at his job as a security guard that he couldn't get out of.

As Tomoru slipped himself into an oversized t-shirt, he heard a knock on the door. "Come in."

"Tomoru!" Felix said cheerfully, "Would you perhaps like to come outside to the garden with me? There's… something I would like to discuss with you personally."

"Are you sure we can't talk about it here, Feli-san?" Tomoru asked.

"I also have to water my flowers." Felix replied.

Tomoru nodded and stood up to go outside with him. He told Jun he was going to confess to Felix that night, so the garden was a perfect place to tell him about his feelings. Felix was simply setting the stage for his promised confession. When there, Felix grabbed a watering can, filled it with water, and made his way to a bush of flowers.

Felix had decided to grow a garden outside of their sharehouse almost immediately after they moved in. He had high quality seeds imported from his home country and started to grow them as soon as he could. Now there were various clusters of roses, pansies, carnations, and even a few sunflowers. Felix claimed he wanted to "make the place more beautiful" and so he added his own touch to it with this garden. Tomoru had to admit, it was a very beautiful garden, Felix knew what he was doing when it came to handling such delicate plants.

As Felix sprinkled the bottom of a sunflower with a bit of water, he spoke to Tomoru, "This sunflower is facing the moon. Typically, they face away from the moon at night. Isn't that quite peculiar?" 

"It is." Tomoru responded, "I hate to ask but… What exactly did you want to discuss with me?"

After asking that, Tomoru's vision went spotty. Did he forget his glasses inside? He felt around his face and pushed up the frames of his glasses. They were secure on his face. The humidity of the outside air accompanied with his fatigue from the show earlier made his head pound.

"Tomoru…" Felix started, his face sinking into a more serious look, "This is something I've wanted to say to you for quite some time. It is something I only realized recently, but you-"

Felix was cut off by Tomoru wobbling to the side and wrapping his arm around Felix's shoulder for support. His head leaned onto Felix. "I-I apologize, I just got a little… light… headed…"

The blonde man lifted Tomoru onto his feet and helped support him. His soft face turned to one of concern. "Good heavens, are you alright?"

Tomoru mumbled, "Yes… I-I'm fi…"

He went unconscious in Felix's arms, dropping down onto the grassy ground beneath them, his body nearly crushing the rose bush that Felix was trying to water.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanna say thank you very much to everyone leaving kudos and commenting on this fic!! It makes me super happy to see people interested and it makes me wanna write even more of this silly slowburn :'] I love u all and I hope u guys enjoy the upcoming chapters!! <33


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